Lokomotiv Stand First

Lokomotiv have thrashed Zenit in St Petersburg and topped the table with maximum points in the first leg of the Russian Premier League.

Lokomotiv's lineup was just slightly different from the last week's one. Dmitriy Tarasov had aggregated too many yellow cards and couldn't take part. Bearing in mind Zenit are the league's leaders in crossing the ball, our managers preferred to field Taras Mykhalyk.

The home team's two most promising opportunities really came after high crosses. Rigoni was the target man both times. In the 3rd minute Guilherme saved the attempt, on 18 minutes the striker hit the far post. Our goalie had some work to do this day - what a ball he saved at the end of the first half when Ivanovic blasted! Besides, the Brazilian often suffered from physical contact with opponents. In one episode, Kuzyaev hit him in the shoulder with the knee.

In the first half, Zenit were better in possession 62 to 38 pet cent but the Railroaders were not upset by this. They continued to look for a chance to score on a counterattack. In one such opportunity Farfan broke away from Mevlja but his attempt went wide.

However, it was Farfan and Lokomotiv's counters that tore Zenit apart in the second half. It all started on 58 minutes when the Railroaders rapidly switched from defence to attack, Anton Miranchuk saw Farfan's spurt and kicked it forward. Jeff passed the keeper and scored an opener.

In 12 minutes it was the other brother who assisted the Peruvian. Alexey saw Farfan on the flank, passed to him and Jeff rolled the ball accurately into the far corner.

Eight minutes on, Farfan found himself one-on-one with the keeper again but saw Alexey Miranchuk running at the goal down the centre, and was willing to thank him for the assist. Jeff waited for Alexey to advance and made a pass theat resulted in a beautiful finish. 3:0 - Zenit has been annihilated. Lokomotiv win in St Petersburg for the first time in 13 years!

We are now proudly top the table after the first leg. The Railwaymen have beaten CSKA, Spartak, Krasnodar and Zenit with the total score of 12:4.

Just a reminder - in the last ten seasons the team that won the first leg won the title race eight times.

ROSGOSSTRAKH Russian Championship. Gameweek 15

Zenit - Lokomotiv - 0:3 (0:0)
Goals: Farfan, 58 (0:1). Farfan, 70 (0:2). Al.Miranchuk, 78 (0:3).

Zenit: Lunyov, Criscito, Kranevitterm Kokorin, Rigoni, Kuzyaev, Yerokhin (Shatov, 84), Dzyuba (Driussi, 71), Mevlja (Smolnikov, 71), Mammana, Ivanovic
Lokomotiv: Guilherme, Ignatyev, Kverkvelia, Pejcinovic, Lysov, Mykhalyk (Barinov, 85), I.Denisov, Fernandes, An.Miranchuk (Kolomeytsev, 90), Al.Miranchuk, Farfan (Eder, 91)
Bookings: Criscito, 59. Guilherme, 72.
Referee: Vitaliy Meshkov (Dmitrov)
October 29, 2017. St Petersburg, Saint Petersburg Stadium.